i agree with Oprah it frustrating. Its like your kids get brainwashed with this attitude that they either cant or dont need to learn.

Its not only inner city though, but it is mostle minority schools, check out Camdem and Willingboro in NJ. I would never send my kids there, its a disgrace the enviromnent these kids are put in. The teachers dont even care.

Never been to Willingboro, but I live about 10 minutes from Camden, and that place is horrible. Being a "gangsta" is more important than having a future there. In the schools teachers don't even try to make them work, they have this attitude like "if this is what they want, i'll let them ruin there life". I go to play bball there with my best friend all the time, and I play kids who can't read or write, kids who are 16+ and in middle school, and they think that is fine.

She's right, and that goes for all school systems and private schools. Kids are too preoccupied with social stuff and not their education. But even in inner city schools if they focus more on school work they can get more than a proper education. Especially if they went to a Library every now and then.

The thing is in America you are given a second chance. In other countries like England, if when you are 28 and realized you have screwed up than i dont think you can go to a community college or w/e and get a good education and in america you can.

Maybe t hat iwhat VC was trying to get at and VC there WAS NO LIBERAL VIEWPOINT IN MY STATMENT so why bring it up?

if the university systems were so great around the world, foreigners wouldn't be trying to infest the american university system like they are. You never see americans going to foreign schools but all the foreigners jump at the ability to infest the american school system

and for the record, i think oprah is a neanderthal whose opinion means next to nothing to me

I know all kinds of Americans who go elsewhere to further their intellectual education or development. Here in Canada we have tons of american students in our universities, and countless hordes of Americans have gone to Europe for schooling and other intellectual pursuits over the years. It is certainly NOT a one-way street as you seem to think it is.
Not to say American universities aren't great, they are, but to think that the rest of the Western world is behind them in quality is downright retarded.

if you look at the American university system... or at least the top universities... you'll find they are head and shoulders a cut above the rest of the world.

I think your just saying that because you go to NYU, because from what I read, there are schools in India that are comparable to your MITs and Harvards.

And the reasons why there are so many foreigners that come to the US are for several reasons. First, you have the kids that couldn't pass their countries standards to enter the state university, and a lot of countries don't have that many options, so they turn to the U.S. (the one's that can afford it at least).

Then you have the kids that want to get a job in the U.S.; thus, they think they have a better chance to get in with the American school, then there's. My cousin graduated from Tetovo University with a nice GPA and she can't even land a job in the U.S. Now you'll be asking yourself WTF is that, and that is the same response job employers probably ask themself when they look at her resume. She's going to end up applying to an American Uni and see how much of her credits she can get transfered, in order to improve her chances.

Anyways, I just wanted to say that college/high school is what you take out of it. If you go to HS for socializing purposes, then that's what your going to get out of it. If you go to college to escape home and party your ass off, that's what your going to get out of it. But, if you study your ass off, read, and pay attention in class, I think you should be able to overcome most obstacles.

And btw VC, can you stop making everything liberal vs. conservative. We understand your a conservative, there is no need to smell your fart every time you post.

Let me tell you something. in the next few years the world will be run by indians and chinese simply because they school their children better. the united states public school system sucks nowadays because of the teachers union. the teachers union is the most powerful union in the us and gives way to much power to the teachers

As a society, we are indoctrinated from a small age with rampant materialism. It permeates just about every area of this country. So why would you expect children, who are easily influenced, to not be affected by that? They see “Cribs” and “My Sweet 16″ and all the other programming that worships material posessions and so they do the same.

Oprah's should be lauded for making this school, but she's exposing a lot of ignorance in her comments. They may be true, but children don't just come out of the womb like that. Why doesn't she question what's going on in our society that causes them to act that way?

By the way, suburban kids aren't much better in this regard. The bottom line is, education in this country in GENERAL is in the toilet. I mean, just look at some of the posters on this board. A spelling mistake here and there or grammatical error here and there is one thing, but many posters write so badly that I can't believe they even got by second grade English.

if the university systems were so great around the world, foreigners wouldn't be trying to infest the american university system like they are. You never see americans going to foreign schools but all the foreigners jump at the ability to infest the american school system

That's because America is the economic leader of the world and most national business uses English and the American system of doing things to conduct their business, it's not necessarily because US schools are better.